View from the 'Xu

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CES 2016: Beyond the Show Floor

CES is the largest convention in North America. Attracting over 170,000 attendees, the conference takes over Las Vegas every year in early January.

Originally focused on consumer electronics, CES has evolved to become the intersection of electronics, automotive, design, health and fitness, media, television, printing and more. This year 3,800 exhibitors showed off their latest and greatest on the show floors spread along the Las Vegas Strip hotels and convention centers.

In many ways, CES has become the “Cannes Lions” of America. This is precisely why marketing and advertising executives fly to chilly Vegas en masse for what may otherwise seem like an ill-fitting choice of conference.

This year, DataXu had a strong presence at CES. Our senior executives met with a wide array of customers, prospects, partners and innovators from the automotive, CPG, television, financial and technology spaces during the week. However, the brilliant talks, panels and keynotes alone would have made it well worth the trip.

Noteworthy 2016 keynote speakers included:

Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel

Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix

Mary Barra, CEO and Chairman of General Motors

Ginny Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO of IBM

Dr. WP Hong, President of Samsung SDS

Robert Kyncl, Chief Business Officer of YouTube.

Additional panels from Scripps Networks, Landmark Ventures and MediaLink were informative and engaging and touched upon many of the viewability, television, rate of change and cost concerns that our industry faces heading into the new year.

Those who did make it over to the Las Vegas Convention Center faced 50 football fields worth of exhibits and squadrons of low-flying drones. Some of the hottest new products on display included:

Drones

Advanced TVs

Virtual Reality Devices

Smart Gadgets & Wearables

Premium Sound

Smart Home Devices

To watch an official CES 2016 wrap-up video from the Consumer Technology Association, click here.